Cullen Investment Group LTD. Buys New Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Studio Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 108.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WFC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. HSBC upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE WFC opened at $56.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $201.70 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $36.40 and a one year high of $58.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.